“It can be a lonely place and it can be an isolating spot, even when you have visitors,” Brittney Crystal, founder of the Iris Fund, said.
On Tuesday, the Iris Fund, in partnership with the Tiny Miracles Foundation, delivered 163 flower bouquets to women and staff in the NICU, antepartum and postpartum at six hospitals in Danbury, Norwalk, Stamford, Bridgeport and New York.
“You're in a transformative moment in your life and one that is definitely deserving of a little extra love and we were just so excited to help provide that today,” Crystal said.
Crystal founded the Iris Fund after losing her daughter to prematurity. Last year, she helped get Connecticut’s first stillbirth tax credit passed and helps support pre-term birth research at Columbia University.
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“How can a mom know that she's healthy? How can her caretaker know that she's healthy? So as an engineer, we basically want to invent in this space where tools haven't been invented,” Kristen Myers, professor of mechanical engineering at Columbia University, said.
The bouquets are brightening hospitals across the state for moms who can use a little love.
“You could just feel it when you push a car to flowers down an aisle, everybody kind of smiles and gets excited, it’s been great,” Crystal said.
